Prison systems and Utopias

Description

Shown below is the instructions for the Research Essay from my professor.

Your Research Essay in this course will be written on a topic that covers a specific aspect of how to create a more utopian society. It should include references to several of our readings for this course, and the final paper should draw from at least 10 quality research sources beyond the assigned class readings; you may want to included 12 or more outside sources, especially if you are using a topic you have written about in a previous paper. Two of your sources should be books, and 4-5 should be from peer-reviewed journals.

Your topic can be an extension of the work you have already done in one or more of your Short Paper assignments. However, you should be sure that you choose to focus your thesis narrowly enough that you can cover it effectively in 10-12 pages and that you have chosen a topic for which you will be able to locate quality research sources to support your ideas. If you are continuing to work with a topic you have already written about, you can and should use those sources as part of your research, but also keep in mind that you will still need to locate at least ten NEW quality sources beyond the class readings and the sources you have already used for the earlier short essay assignments.
The work on a complete draft of your Research Essay will be significantly supported by your Research Proposal. Through the writing of that proposal—and the comments and responses you receive on it—you will clarify your thinking, supplement research materials, and consider effective writing strategies for your essay.
As you continue to do your research, be sure you are following the guidelines for choosing good sources and that you are including a variety of sources for a balanced point of view. If you are dealing with a controversial issue, you need to be sure that you have looked thoroughly at both sides of the question, and that your sources show this. Remember, beyond the assigned class readings, your final list of sources should include at least two books on your topic and at least four sources from peer-reviewed journals.
This Research Essay assignment will count for 40% of the course grade, and it will be evaluated on both the process and the product. The percentages for each step can be calculated as follows: Thesis, annotated bibliography, and oral report, 5%; Research Proposal, 10%; first draft, 10%; final draft, 10%, final Research Presentation, 5%.

My research topic is on Prisons and how Utopia can play a part in them. Ive already written a Research Proposal but I didn’t get a very good grade on it. The books we have read so far are Plato’s Republic, Thomas More’s Utopia, Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, and William Morris’ News From Nowhere so if you have read any of these books and can somehow apply them to my topic that would be great. For my annotated bibliography I need the annotations to be more detailed and apply more to how credible the author and the website is. Shown below is my Research proposal that I need to be rewritten. The main probem I had with it was the citing of sources. If you could double check the page numbers I put down for my quotes and/or my paraphrases that would be great.

Rickey Cooper
Dr. Richard Mathews
AWRH201
November 11, 2019
Behind the Bars of Prison
Prison systems and how they relate to Utopia
1.) Introduction
The nature of our prison systems has been a matter of political discourse since it’s creation. Just about every major civilization in history has used some form of the prison concept, to mean incarceration and removal of personal freedoms in response to an action that is deemed immoral in that society. My thesis is that in the United States, the main purpose of our prison system is to gain retribution and vengeance from criminals as a form of payback. This primitive thought process is contradictory towards what our goal should be, which is to rehabilitate and reform prisoners back into normal society. This is a growing issue, especially in the United States, which has by far the highest incarceration rate of any first world countries. This research will attempt to explain the reasons for America’s extreme incarceration rate and hopefully, some solutions to this issue. The countries that will be used as examples include Canada, the UK, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and the EU in general. The reasoning behind this is that the United States has more in common with these first world countries in contrast to the African and South American countries that are still very impoverished. This brings up a few special circumstances which will not be a focus of this research. In regard to the high incarceration rate of South and Central America, the causes of this large spike in prisoners is less due to their prison system and more to do with the corruption of government and extremely high crime rates. Corruption and crime are not something I would like to focus on in this research. Furthermore, Africa has a fairly low incarceration rate in comparison to the amount of crime. Due to the lack of infrastructure, Africa cannot accurately measure their crime rate nor its incarceration rate.
This topic resonated with me, mainly due to my family history and home city. My family has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse. My father and grandfather have both faced substantial prison time due to their drug abuse. My hometown has less than a thousand people, with the majority of the residents on welfare. My thinking is that if our prison system in this country focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment, this cycle of self-destructive behavior could have been ended a long time ago. The flaws of our prison system should resonate with the general public as the improvement of it will positively affect everyone’s lives even if they aren’t at risk of being incarcerated. Less people incarcerated means less money out of our paychecks in taxes. People should also take an interest because as a society, we should be looking out for the well-being of each other. One of the main reasons for America’s rate of incarceration is our lack of empathy for one another. If we were to see eye to eye with one another, we might understand each other’s situations a bit more.
2.) Historical and Cultural Background
The earliest examples of prison concepts come from ancient Greece, Persia, and Egypt. These societies shaped the way for not only prison systems but free-thinking in general because they created a way of confining people from the rest of humanity. The historical and cultural background of the prison system in the United States prior to the 18th century were non-existent, especially as a means of punishment. Jails were used to hold criminals temporarily until a trial or punishment could be carried out. Debtors and political prisoners were the only ones who could face extended stay. Most punishments were in the form of flogging, shaming execution or exile. Most of the early arrivals to the American colonies were criminals who had been banished from England up until 1776 (Morris & Rothman, 132). The revolutionary war ended the practice, and Australia was the other destination where the convicts were sent. In Boston, when it was still a little village of no more than 40 houses, they had built a jail. Through this trend, the American fascination with jails and the prison system started to take shape as they adapted the British system of incarcerating people.
Before the American Revolution, imprisonment had started to be used as a form of criminal punishment, and it became widespread in the United States. England had continued to hold people in detention facilities and dungeons as early as the 1500s and America as their colony started to take the same approach. There were three major waves that led to the prison building efforts in the United States. The first wave began during the Jacksonian era, and there was a widespread imprisonment and rehabilitative labor as a form of primary penalty for crimes that were committed (Morris & Rothman, 80). By the time that the American Civil war started almost all states in the United States had been practicing some form of imprisonment for criminals in their regions. The second wave started after the civil war, and it gained momentum during the progressive era as the policymakers changed and included new mechanisms. The new prison system started to include parole, probation and indeterminate sentencing, which completely changed the American prison systems.
The final wave of the prison system in the United States occurred during the early 1970s as there was an unprecedented expansion of prisons at both the federal and state level. Since then, the number of incarcerated people in the United States improved drastically where there are approximately 7,000,000 people under control or supervision of the correctional facilities. Prison constructions and reforms in this period took a major turn as private investors were allowed by the federal government to build and maintain prisons (Pelaez, 31). The structure, mission and objectives of the correctional facilities took a different turn, and they stopped being reform centers but institutions of punishing criminals (Beck, 9). Legal and political challenges also created direct and indirect conflicts of how the prison systems were run and operated and that is the current experience across the United States.
3.) Critical Discussion of your topic in relation to utopias and utopian thinking
The establishment of the prison system in early civilizations paved the way for the current predicament that the United States faces where mass incarceration defines our penal system. It is worthy to note that minority groups make the largest groups of incarcerated individuals, and it points to the racial and prejudice that has existed in America. However, the major focus should be directed at defining prison systems and how they relate to utopia in this research. Using the adjective “utopia” in the same sentence with prison is contradictory yet ironical (Pollock, 61). Utopia is an ideally perfect place, especially in the moral, social and political aspect, and another definition notes that it is an idealistic, impractical scheme for political and social reform. The latter definition seems to fit perfectly to how the prison system has evolved and transformed throughout the years.
Penitentiaries, in the beginning, were believed to be institutions for reforming not just the errant souls who were taken there but also the society in which they were based. Crime had been connected to denigration of society’s values and morals, and when individuals were imprisoned, they were supposed to lead it back to perfect order (Camp & Gerald, 425). However, proponents believed that prisons would be an answer to tackling the rising crime rate, and that is why there have been contradictory approaches on reforming correctional facilities. In 1851, Reverend James B. Finley, chaplain at an Ohio penitentiary who had utopian thoughts about prisons noted that society should change places with the prisoners (Pollock, 60). In doing this, the goals of peace, good habits and sobriety as Christians would come from the prisons. Cesare Beccaria and John Howard, who were penal reformers, sought to ensure that prisons could be used to transform people rather than to incarcerate them without a definitive result.
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was also an advocate of prison reforms in the United States and England, where he had been jailed regularly due to his religious and political beliefs. Therefore, when he sought to provide a safe haven for Quakers, William Penn noted that people were supposed to be free from state captivity especially if the ideologies that they presented were different from those of state (Chapin, 163). The utopian ideologies that were presented by Reverend James B. Finley, Cesare Beccaria, John Howard and William Penn showcase that prison reforms could have achieved a utopian turnaround if the state had been truthful on the reasons why they were building prisons (Gaes et al., 139). The similarities between these penal reformers indicate that the creation of the prison system was not supposed to be punitive but corrective where people would be transformed after they did their time.
Most of the prisoners who have gone through the American correctional facilities tend to be repeat offenders of the same or more serious crimes (Nellis, 27). Through this analogy, the penal system seems to fail in restorative and rehabilitation, which are the main core functions under which the prisons were built. The disquieting history of correctional institutions across the world, especially in the United States, Canada and the UK shows how they are different when it comes to incarceration. The UK had some of the worst approaches to handling and imprisoning criminals. However, through social and political reforms through the ages have shown that the ideologies of a utopian prison can be achieved as their neighboring countries like Norway, Denmark, Iceland and EU, in general, have effected those policies.
The countries in the EU have shown that the making of a utopian prison can be achieved if the existing institutions can be improved by adopting a clear commitment to principles of rehabilitation and restorative justice. Secondly, recruitment, training and retention of people who work there should be done on their willingness to reform through a commitment to the stated principles. The physical, psychological, safety, social, and ethical components of the prison must be improved so that people can concentrate on change rather than survival. When prisons adapt to these utopian issues of change, then the prisoners will be integrated back into society without any issues. The reasons why the countries in the EU have been able to change and restore their prison systems is because they rehabilitate their prisoners rather than punishing them. These approach has seen the number of prisoners in their countries reduce while the rate of crime, especially violent ones, have become non-existent in countries like Norway and Iceland.
4.) Biographies of key sources:
According to the researchers, the prison system in the world was created to bring social order and to ensure that people continued to live with good ethics and morals. In detailing the historical context of how prisons were established, Morris Norval, and David J. Rothman, showcase that they have carried out extensive research in the field and they have extensive knowledge in the field. The descriptive and analytical approach that they have written the book enables the reader to understand the historical creation of the prison system. As a secondary source, the authors have ensured that create an analysis of how prisons under the current system in the United States is bound to fail despite the continued trial at reforms. The reforms that they focus on is that the criminal and justice system should be at the forefront of ensuring that racism and prejudice amongst the minority groups is reduced.
Through Gaes, Gerald and Scott D. Camp analysis, the authors attributes the current challenges that are faced in the American correctional facilities to the private investors who have been accorded resources to build prisons. In this context, it shows that the prisons have changed from reformation and restorative entities to businesses. Therefore, for the prisons to continue operating, they have to ensure that prisoners have to keep on streaming there while their sentences are made longer. Through their analysis, the authors note that the United States justice system has been collaborating with the correctional facilities to send prisoners there, and that is why there is a massive inflow of inmates. In this regard, it means that the more prisoners are taken to the correctional facilities, the better payments they end up receiving from the government.
In understanding how utopian ideologies and their relation to prison, McDonald, Douglas, et al, have extensive knowledge in criminal justice give a detailed research in their book while offering solutions of the measures that should be taken to reform the United States correctional facilities. Their knowledge and experience that they have has been part of the reforms in the correctional facilities in the United States. Through their analysis of the contextual issues, they point to the ways that American prisons have become centers of fear, intimidation and violence. Most of the people who are incarcerated at maximum prisons have to join gangs in the prisons for their protection. United States correctional facilities have gone through transformations and reforms that create contradictory reactions amongst social and humanitarian activists.

5.) Conclusions
United States of America prisons and correctional facilities are created in such a manner that they are punitive and they have a system of gaining retribution and vengeance on the convicts. Since the Jacksonian era, the prisons became avenues of making people give state forced labor with little time for reforms. Therefore, it shows that the foundation which the American prisons was created was not conducive for ensuring social reforms for the convicts or the societies where they are based. There have only been transformative changes that occurred during the Progressive Era when parole and probation were introduced. However, in the 1990s, the prison had been trying to ensure that the convicts left there with courses that enabled them to turn their lives around.
The prison system and how they relate with utopia is showcased by social reformers like William Penn and John Howard, who advocated for better treatment and reformation of prisoners. In their arguments, they noted that any institutions that were in the country irrespective of their role was a reflection of the people. The reformers wanted the administrators of the prisons to create a conducive environment that was geared towards reformation and restoration rather than punishment. Inmate hygiene, as well as their social and spiritual well-being, was supposed to be nurtured because they lacked better morals and ethics, and that is why they were in prison. Therefore, if they were supposed to change, their behaviors and attitudes were to be molded in a manner that was humane and rational.
Canada, which is an immediate neighbor with the United States of America, does not have the same number of prisoners despite their social, economic and cultural issues being almost similar. Through their prison and correctional facilities, they have ensured that they look after the well-being of their prisoners without being punitive. Through this approach, it enables the prisoners time to acquire skills and competencies that can sustain them once they leave prison. Subsequently, it ensures that there are no recidivism cases when the inmates are released as they have a new form of livelihood. The creation of the prison industries is a noble approach of taping and harnessing the skills of the prisoners as each one of them has different capabilities.
The European Union (EU) countries are some of the progressive regions when it comes to reforming and restorative behaviors of inmates. Individuals who are caught with minor and petty crimes are usually given a chance to do community work rather than being taken to prison. During that time, there are group sessions that they attend, which act as therapy so they can work towards behavior change. The approach is not a utopian dream because it has enabled the countries to record a few cases of recidivism or decrease in crime rate (Vorhaus, 162). In this context, it shows that being punitive against prisoners does not change their behavior; it only strengthens their resolve.
Prisoners who are not a danger to themselves or the society where they are based are housed in small units that are dispersed around the regions. Others are placed in less-secure residential units where they are offered help with domestic abuse, drug and alcohol dependency and mental health problems. Local communities are involved in the restorative process because those people belong to their societies, and once they are fully reformed, they are welcomed back without any restrictions. Through these approaches, the prisoners get to understand their problems, and it becomes easy to integrate them back in society without much protests from the public or the citizens. The model of reforms in the prison systems in European Union showcases that utopian approaches can be practical when they are used in the right manner or when there are proper systems that have been put in place.
These same approaches can be used in the United States, and they can make the prison systems to achieve its desired aim and objective. However, to attain those measures, the administrators of correctional facilities must be willing to change and adapt new measures of governing and interacting with the prisoners. All stakeholders, including the government, local communities, religious and social entities, should be willing to accept prisoners as part of their reformation and restorative plans. Subsequently, privatization of the prison industry should be terminated by the federal government because it has been directly connected to the mass incarceration of people. The country can start by bringing in expatriates from EU and surrounding regions whose prison systems have been the most progressive in reforming convicted individuals.

Works Cited
Beck, Allen, et al. “Sexual victimization in prisons and jails reported by inmates, 2008-09.” (2010).
The article has been reviewed by criminal law experts before it was approved for publication. The authors have extensive knowledge in prison and jail reforms in the Texas.
Camp, Scott D., and Gerald G. Gaes. “Criminogenic effects of the prison environment on inmate behavior: Some experimental evidence.” Crime & Delinquency 51.3 (2005): 425-442.
The article offers an overview of how the American prison environment changes prisoners behaviors. The authors have sociology expertise background which they have used to create the insight onto how the prisons are.
Chapin, Bradley. “Felony law reform in the early republic.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 113.2 (1989): 163-184.
Chapin was an integral part of writing about the history of Pennsylvania and he journalistic background. The article offers review of how William Penn wanted to make Pennsylvania a reformed state that excelled in freedom of all people including prisoners.
Gaes, Gerald G., and Scott D. Camp. “Unintended consequences: Experimental evidence for the criminogenic effect of prison security level placement on post-release recidivism.” Journal of Experimental Criminology 5.2 (2009): 139-162.
The authors have different academic backgrounds in relation to criminology. The article was written in response to the effects of how prison security levels affect inmates.
McDonald, Douglas, et al. Private prisons in the United States: An assessment of current practice. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates, 1998.
Through their book, the authors indicate that they have extensive knowledge in criminal justice. They give a detailed research in their book while offering solutions of the measures that should be taken to reform the United States correctional facilities. Their knowledge and experience that they have has been part of the reforms in the correctional facilities in the United States.
Morris, Norval, and David J. Rothman, eds. The Oxford history of the prison: The practice of punishment in Western society. Oxford University Press, 1995.
The authors are researchers and educationalists on correctional facilities. The descriptive and analytical approach that they have written the book enables the reader to understand the historical creation of the prison system in the world. As a secondary source, the authors have ensured that create an analysis of how prisons under the current system in the United States is bound to fail despite the continued trial at reforms.
Nellis, Ashley. “Throwing away the key: The expansion of life without parole sentences in the United States.” Fed. Sent’g Rep. 23 (2010): 27.
The author is a professional in criminology. Through her analysis, she showcases how prisoners in the United States have struggled after their parole sentences were limited and what it means to the prison system.
Pelaez, Vicky. “The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery?.” Global Research 31 (2014).
As a professional criminologist, Pelaez, shows how the United States has used the prison industry as a business platform. Through his research it supports the analogy that prisons in America are not rehabilitative but punitive.
Pollock, Joycelyn M., et al. “A Utopian Prison: Contradiction in Terms?.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 28.1 (2012): 60-76.
The authors have mastered their studies in criminology and they have used the knowledge in writing this research. It gives an insight of how utopian approaches can be used to reform the prison system while showing why it is hard to achieve in United States.
Vorhaus, John. “Prisoners’ right to education: A philosophical survey.” London Review of Education 12.2 (2014): 162-174.
The author is an educationalist and the credibility of this article is that it was published after review. The article offers an insight into how education can be used to rehabilitate inmates and why it is essential in prison reforms.